Andocentrism Essay, Research Paper

The view that most people have of women prevents women from having the equal rights they fought for to be made into law. There are many laws being broken every day. Most people unconsciously think why make an exception to this one. The competitive world can seem sexist and immoral to most, but the ones that are higher up on the ladder in any sense are the ones that shape how we achieve what we want and how we think. Otherwise we might not survive.

We are taught that every job is important, yet society has set status on every job and tells us we are looked down upon if we have a low-status job. The janitor for example does our dirty work, gets paid way too little for what he or she has to do, and is looked at as having a dead-end job. Yet, if people did not pursue this line of work, how would everyone else get their so-called more important jobs done?

Women have a disadvantage at competing for even a janitorial job over a man in our androcentric society. A man has more strength to get the job done. On a television show awhile back two CEO s were interviewed. They were two of the five women CEO s in America. Why are there only five women? These women explained that most higher up jobs are acquired by knowing the right people. Men have mastered networking; women have not been able to. Why have men been able to and women not been able to? Well, to get started in the networking world you usually have a mentor. Who do women get to mentor them? Of course there are only men to do this task. Then the tongue wagging commences. If a woman accomplishes climbing up the ladder, it is not because of her own strength. Who did she have to sleep with to get to the top? Is it the man s or the woman s reputation that is ruined? Eve s story is at the heart of the concept of Women in Western civilization. Indeed.

There is this Glass Ceiling that prevents women from even trying to make their way to the top. The myths of women s qualities like women are emotional, weak, will eventually want to leave their job and raise children, and men are smarter are all part of this Glass Ceiling. The natural and proper timidity and delicacy which belongs to the female sex evidently unfits it for many of the occupations of civil life. Why do these qualities belong to the its?

I agree how it is obvious that our society from the beginning has mostly given man all the power. The women were excluded from the myths of religion or they were depicted as evil. These myths were the basis of how society viewed themselves. The similarities between Eve and Pandora struck me as odd. They both ruined paradise for mankind. These myths from our religions show us how to live. This is why women are at a disadvantage.

In conclusion I agree that women and men should be able to compete in business equally. The question is how will that ever happen in our androcentric society? Our society androcentrically take the male as the standard and judge a woman worthy of equality only if she matches the male standard. If there is to be equality what standards will there be? I agree that there is an ongoing strive for equality and we should do anything we can to keep getting better, but I also agree that there are some things that happen that take us back to the beginning.